


switched

by soapyconnor



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: M/M, bones and spock bond but then aos!spock fucks up, universe swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 08:05:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12228891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soapyconnor/pseuds/soapyconnor
Summary: there's a transporter malfunction. spock from the alternate universe ends up in the prime universe. no one's really happy about this.





	switched

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr @lensmccoys
> 
> also i haven't wrote a star trek fic in so long so im so so so so so so so sorry if the characters are off. also FUCK that summary and literally this fic but w/e!!!!!!!!! im tired
> 
> o fuck this also wasn't beta'd so. sorry!

“Doctor McCoy, your presence has been requested in the transporter room.”

Leonard looked up, and raised an eyebrow at Nurse Chapel, who looked like she wanted to dig her fingers into her own hair. “What’s wrong?”

“There was a malfunction with the transporter . . . and . . .” She shook her head. “Just go down there. Please. I don’t think I could be able to explain it.” She walked out of the room, pulling on the sleeves of her uniform.

Leonard swallowed. That didn’t sound good, and his stomach twisted. He got up, hands shaking a bit as he left medical bay and walked almost robotically towards the transporter room. Spock and Kirk had gone down to the planet’s surface, and they were supposed to be back around this time. He was considerably worried, to say the least. Transporters were awful and he swore to whatever lord existed, that if something had happened to either one of them, he would never step foot on a transporter again.

He walked into the transporter room, and he was relieved to see Kirk and the two security officers they brought with them standing safely in the room. He scanned the room for Spock, and his stomach lurched.

It was Spock, but . . . wasn’t?

The security officers moved, securing the Spock look a like and pressing their phasers to his side, letting him know that they would stun him if he tried anything. The imposter Spock remained calm.

“What happened?” Leonard asked, staring hard at imposter Spock. “How the hell did you bring back someone who doesn’t even look like Spock back with you?”

The imposter Spock arched an eyebrow, while Jim said, “He was with us when we beamed up. When we arrived here _he_ was in Spock’s place.” Jim sighed. “I’ve interrogated him as best as I could but he insists he’s Spock.”

“I am Spock,” the imposter insisted, “It is illogical to assume otherwise.”

“We will see about that,” Kirk replied calmly. “Bones . . .”

Leonard crossed his arms. “If he was our Spock, Jim, I would have recognized his arrival.”

“Bones. Please.”

Leonard stared at him hard, then let out a hardy sighed, and closed his eyes. He called over to Spock through the bond, and he waited for a response. If he were to be on the planet’s surface still, while it would be quiet and muddled, he would be able to hear _something._ The imposter standing in front of them didn’t respond, and he got no respond from his Spock.

He stared at the imposter. “Nothing, Jim.”

“Well . . . I . . . hm,” Jim hummed thoughtfully, staring at the ground. “Is there anything you can do?” he asked, staring at Bones.

He mumbled, “I can do a DNA test and see if their DNA is a match. If not, then it’s obvious we have an imposter. You can’t hide the truth from genetics . . .”

“If they have the same genetics?”

“Then something else is wrong, captain. I suggest thinking of possible things that could have gone wrong . . .”

“May I offer any insight?” the imposter Spock up in a forceful tone, way different than their Spock’s.

“No. Not until the DNA test has been done. Security, please escort him to medical bay. Bones, I’ll be there shortly.”

“Yes, captain,” Leonard replied, eyeing the imposter as he turned on heel and began to walk quickly out of the transporter room. From the sound of it, the security officers were following him close behind. He could tell without even looking that the imposter was studying the ship, and he could feel that he was dying to ask questions.

Softly, he began to speak in Vulcan, “ _Your curiosity suggests that you haven’t seen this ship before._ ”

Despite this man physically appearing as an imposter, and aside from a few behavioral quirks that were not like his Spock, he behaved very much like Spock. He knew that if he turned around and looked, that he would have an eyebrow arched. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw just that. Whoever trained him—if that was the case—did a good job. Too bad they got the looks wrong . . .

“ _You know Vulcan, doctor?_ ” the imposter replied.

“ _Yes. You taught it to me._ ”

“ _Fascinating_ ,” he said, and looked deep in thought for a moment. “ _This ship is . . . different, compared to my own._ ” It was all he offered. Leonard didn’t ask for anymore. “ _Earlier, your captain asked you to check, but you did nothing. I must ask . . . what did you do?_ ”

Leonard’s eyebrows furrowed. Then he said in English, “I will not answer any questions you have right now.” He cursed himself, for his momentarily breach of weakness. The imposter understood and went silent, continuing to study his surroundings.

Once they were in med bay, the guards left the imposter and Leonard alone, but stood outside at his orders. He knew it was probably stupid of him—and his own Spock would agree—but he would rather be alone.

“Lay on the table,” he commanded, glancing at the imposter, who was looking around. He did so. He swallowed roughly as he began to run some tests on him, looking for any anomalies. He looked long and hard, but found none. He sighed heavily. “You may get up.”

The imposter—Spock, he had to accept that—rose. “Found nothing unusual with my DNA, doctor?”

“Not at all. For all intents and purposes . . . you are Spock,” he murmured, pulling at his bottom lip with his teeth. “Can’t help but wonder how you’re here, m—our Spock is gone, yet you’re him, but look nothing like him . . .”

“I do have some insight on that, Doctor McCoy, but I would like to wait until your captain arrives here—” Spock stopped, when he saw Leonard grinning like that. “Please tell me, doctor, what you find so amusing.”

“I haven’t been called ‘McCoy’ by a Vulcan in a long time, Spock. Sorry, it’s just odd to hear.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What have you been called then?”

“Doctor S’chn T’gai.”

 _There_ was that recognizable look of shock. Spock opened his mouth to speak, when the doors opened and Jim stepped in. “And?” he asked, looking towards Leonard.

“It’s Spock. Just . . . not ours.”

“I see . . .”

“I have something to say, captain,” Spock spoke up, temporarily forgetting about what Leonard had said. When the captain’s gaze was on him, he spoke, “Have you been experiencing difficulties with your devices as of late?”

“Yes . . . why?”

“Well . . . I do believe that your universe’s counterpart and I have simply switched due to a malfunction with the transporter.”

“Huh,” Jim scoffed, “Why am I not surprised?”

Spock raised an eyebrow. “Has this . . . happened before?”

“Quite a few times, yes. I expect our counterparts in your universe will be figuring this out right about now. Do you think you would be able to figure out when we will be able to switch the two of you back?”

“Yes. It shouldn’t take me long.”

He nodded. “I will escort you to your quarters and allow you to work—”

“Captain,” Spock interrupted uncharacteristically, “I do not know in your universe, but in mine, the malfunctions happened every twenty-six point four hours. I believe there is sufficient time to work.”

“That seems about the right time that the anomalies would happen . . .” Jim hummed. “What are you trying to suggest, Mr. Spock?”

“I would like to sit here with Doctor S’chn T’gai and learn what I can from this universe.”

Leonard was surprised. He didn’t expect this Spock to want to be around him, because from what he gathered he and his universe’s McCoy weren’t close. But Spock turned to him and looked at him with intrigue when Jim went, “Is that all right with you Bones?”

“Sure,” he said, breaking his gaze away from Spock, “Unless there’s a medical emergency, I don’t have much to do.”

Jim grinned a small bit, then nodded. “All right. See you,” he said, and then left.

Leonard got up, and grabbed his PADD, thinking he’d be able to work on some paperwork, but he was soon stopped by Spock saying, “You and your Spock, you are together?”

He looked up. “Yes. You seem surprised.”

“I am. My McCoy is very . . . illogical.”

“Of course, he is. I’m guessing you don’t get along?”

“For the captain’s sake, yes . . . How did you and I come together?”

Leonard shrugged. “It was after your first Pon Farr. I got angry at you for not telling us sooner about your condition, and that we could have helped you far sooner. You told me that for Vulcans it would be embarrassing to admit such a weakness, and then you practically snapped at me and said that I only cared because I was required too. I got angry, of course, and told you how wrong you were. We didn’t speak for a while after that.”

“And?”

“What do you think? You came to me and talked. You danced around the subject for a long time before you cut to the chase and explained you had similar feelings. We didn’t speak for a while once again, before I confronted you and asked if this was going anywhere.” He smiled, remembering how Spock looked _almost_ shocked at his brash confrontation. “Of course, you accepted and took me on what could almost be considered a date. I sat there the whole time and listened to you explain to me what was wrong with Sulu’s plant. It was probably the best thing I was going to get from you.”

Spock hummed in agreement. “I had a similar experience with the captain,” he said, stunning Leonard for a moment, before he asked, “How long did it take for you to form a mental bond as well as learn Vulcan? You are quite a conversationalist. Are you wedded in the eyes of Starfleet or only in the eyes of the high council?”

“Full of questions,” he mumbled, and feigned irritation.

“My apologies.”

“I’m just joking, Spock. Huh, you and I must really not get along, if you can’t even sense when I’m joking.” He rolled his eyes, and shook his head. “The mental bond was formed pretty quickly. We were both positive that this was serious and neither of us were going to leave the other, so it was an easy decision to make. We’re married, Spock. We went the whole nine yards. A marriage ceremony and everything. As for Vulcan, you began to teach me shortly after we formed the bond. You thought it was logical. I thought otherwise, but it has helped us immensely.”

“How so?”

He scoffed. “Well, whenever we get kidnapped every other damn mission, we use Vulcan instead, and the aliens usually don’t understand it, so it’s much easier to form an escape.”

“I see. It was very indeed logical of my counterpart.”

“So, you mentioned something about going on a date similar with your captain . . .?”

“Yes. Before I answer that, I do have a few more questions, doctor.”

He sighed. “All right. Go ahead.”

“I’m most curious as to what other possible discrepancies could be between our two universes,” he said, raising his eyes to meet Leonard’s.

“So, basically, you want to know who’s dating who.”

“More or less, yes.”

“Well . . . Jim and Scotty, while not officially a thing, have been growing quite fond of each other. Sulu and Chekov have been together longer than Spock and I have. Oh, and Uhura and Chapel are together as well.”

“Fascinating,” he said again. That was one thing Leonard liked about his Spock, he had taught him to be able to say other words besides _fascinating_.

“Yes, oh so fascinating. Tell me about your universe know.”

“Well . . . for one, your _Enterprise_ is much more . . . hm, polychromatic then our _Enterprise_. Your uniforms are different as well . . .”

“Cut to the chase, Spock. You know what I meant.”

“As I’m sure you figured out, Captain Kirk and I have an affinity towards one another.”

“Uh huh.”

“As for you, doctor, you and Mr. Scott . . .”

He burst out laughing, causing Spock to stop. “ _Seriously?_ ” he wondered. “Scotty and _me?_ You’ve got to be joking!”

“No, doctor, I am not. I do not find your laughter agreeable, when the very nature of your relationship with my counterpart could have caused the same reaction. But I held my tongue.”

He quieted almost immediately, staring hard at Spock. _My, you have a stick up your ass, don’t you?_ “All right. I won’t laugh. Promise. The others?”

“Hm. Ensign Chekov and Mr. Sulu—”

“Huh. Never knew their relationship would be a constant.”

Spock’s mouth twitched. “Indeed. I am afraid we do not have a Chapel on the _Enterprise._ Uhura is not seeking romantic affection from anyone now, but seems to be . . . hm . . . _leaning_ towards a female Orion.”

“I see,” Leonard said, and looked up at the ceiling. “That’s quite something. Never really expected myself with Scotty but . . . I guess different universes mean different things.” He rose from his seat. “Would you like to see your quarters? I know there’s plenty of time until the next anomaly but . . .”

“You are worried about my counterpart,” he said, staring him down, “and would like him to returned to you as soon as convenient.”

He winced. “Yes. While I do enjoy your company, and have learned a great deal from you, I would like him back.”

Spock nodded, and rose from his seat as well, following the doctor out of his office and into the bustling hallways of the _Enterprise._ As they walked, Leonard began to chew on his lip. He was contemplating on whether he should take him to Spock’s old room, or to their new quarters . . .

A small part of him wanted to keep the quarters hidden from this Spock, to be able to keep some sort of privacy. Yet again he knew this Spock was curious, and would recognize that Spock’s old room wasn’t being used, and would attempt to find their new quarters anyways.

So, he led him through the _Enterprise,_ and stopped sheepishly in front of it. The cogs in his head continued to turn, before Spock broke the trance by saying, “We do not have all day, doctor,” which caused him to step forward into his room.

He didn’t speak. He knew as soon as Spock’s footsteps behind him stopped that he had realized what he had walked into. Leonard just kept on walking and sat at his desk, ignoring Spock. Out of his peripheral, he could see him walking around the room, studying every aspect of it and seeing what was different between the two counterparts. He stopped at the bed side table, and Leonard noticed he was staring at the photo of them together.

“Something wrong?” he called.

Spock stood up a little straighter. “No, not at all,” he said, before walking over to his desk, and sitting down. He easily got to work.

 

\---

 

            A couple of hours had passed before either one of them spoke.

            “Doctor S’chn T’gai.”

            “Yes?”

            “There is something I must ask of you.”

            Silence. Bones swallowed, and then asked, “Yes? What is it?”

            “I would like to perform a mind meld with you.”

            He swallowed again. “Why?”

            “I do believe it would be a learning experience, and one that your Spock would have already asked of whoever he is with. It’s only logical to do so, to see further where the separation lies, and to see what can be learned from one another.”

            He didn’t like the sound of it. He didn’t like the sound of it, _at all._ He stared hard at Spock, who looked up at him, with nearly a pleading gaze. He softened a bit. “All right. But just so you’re aware, try anything funny, and I can and _will_ destroy your head from the inside out.” It was an empty threat, but this Spock didn’t know that.

            “Of course, doctor,” he said softly, raising and bringing his chair to the doctor’s desk. Leonard swallowed, but forced his mind to relax to as Spock put his hands on his psi-points. As soon as he felt Spock enter his mind, he realized his mistake.

            This Spock wasn’t experienced. He was rude, so to speak, and messy. He riffled through Leonard’s memories, finding things useful to him and then just throwing it away. Leonard was disoriented at first, since he wasn’t ready for such a violent mental attack. He could tell that Spock thought he was being gentle, but it was far from it.

            Once he recovered, he followed the trail that Spock had left, not sure where he was. He had a headache, and he stumbled around until he found Spock. Once he did, he put that on lockdown. He shut his entire mind down, and began to force Spock out. Once he was gone, he kept his mind clamped down.

            He opened his eyes, which were blurry and full of tears. “Get out,” he snapped.

            “Doctor, I must apologize—”

            “No! Get out! Have someone help you find the engineering department, go and work with Scotty. Get _out,_ ” he insisted. He heard him get up and leave. Leonard then said, “Computer, lock the door for everyone except the captain.” Then, he allowed himself to cry.

 

\---

 

            “Doctor McCoy,” Jim’s voice came through softly through the computer, “We will be sending Spock back in a couple of minutes if you would like to join us.”

            Leonard stared across the room. He was covered in a blanket, and had Spock’s stuffed sehlat as well. He hadn’t moved from his seat since the incident, but Jim had visited him, and when he was unable to coax a response from him, gave him things he thought would comfort him until their Spock returned.

            He swallowed, and sighed. “Sure,” he murmured, touching his cheeks with his hands. They were sticky. “How do my eyes look?”

            “Fine,” Jim replied, “But you know you will be unable to hide it from Spock.”

            He sighed and nodded. “I’ll be down shortly.”

            He stood up on shaky legs as the connection ended. He wanted to bring both the blanket and sehlat with him, but knew that would draw attention. Instead, he found one of Spock’s old sweaters from the academy, and put it on. He dragged a hand roughly through his hair, and sniffed as he left their quarters. He hated himself for acting like this. This wasn’t . . . _him._ But he hadn’t been like his old self since he had gotten together with Spock. The longer he spent time with Spock, he continued to be happy, relaxed, and . . . soft. He didn’t like it. He wasn’t even this soft when he was with his ex-wife.

            But he can’t say that the impact of their marriage hadn’t affected Spock, either. Spock had picked up on a lot of his sayings and were using some of them, even his stupid, ‘In a pig’s eye,’ comment. Hs mouth would sometimes twitch with the hint of a smile, and although people didn’t really get it most of the time, he would even make _jokes_. Leonard would have to say the two of them were good for one another.

            He entered the transporter room, and saw the other Spock standing and talking to Jim. Upon his arrival, he moved forward, “Doctor S’chn T’gai, I would like too—”

            “No,” Leonard said, bitterly, crossing his arms and staring at him. “I don’t want to hear it. You have a lot to learn.” Then he snapped, “I can see why my counterpart and you don’t get along. I hope your Kirk can handle you.”

            Spock opened his mouth, until Scotty spoke up, “Thirty seconds, Mr. Spock.” He retreated, and stepped onto the transporter pad.

            Jim counted down, “Three, two, one . . . energize Mr. Scott.”

            Leonard watched Spock slowly disappear, and he held his breath, watching anxiously. If the other Spock returned, he wasn’t going to be a happy camper . . .

            He nearly burst into tears as his Spock appeared on the transporter pad, but he held the tears back. He wasn’t going to let anyone see that. Before Jim could say anything, Bones was rushing forward, hugging Spock tightly.

            He could tell Spock was slightly stunned, and he mentally reached out for Leonard, _Ashayam?_

 _I’ll explain later,_ he thought, while he asked, “Are you hurt?”

            “No,” Spock responded, shaking his head. That was another thing, too. Spock was much more honest when he was injured then he was before.

            “Good,” Leonard murmured, while Jim stepped forward and said, “It’s good to have you back, Spock.”

            He nodded to the captain. “Thank you, captain. If you do not mind, I would like to spend some time with Leonard before I return to my normal duties.”

            Jim smiled. “Of course.”

 

 

            “What did he do to you, Leonard?” Spock asked, once they reached their quarters.

            He swallowed, and shook his head. “I should have known better. I let him perform a mind meld on me, because, hey, it was you. But . . . fuck, Spock. He riffled through everything. He brought up stuff that I had long since forgotten. Like the whole mirrorverse incident . . . God. I just. It’s all here now and I can’t stop thinking about it.”

            “I am sorry,” Spock apologized, hands clenched. “If I could, I would wring his neck.” He placed his hands-on Leonard’s shoulders, pressing their foreheads together. “I am sorry.”

            “It’s okay. You’re here now. Please . . . do your thing,” he said, too tired to say anymore. “Cuddle with me.”

            “Of course,” Spock mumbled back, pulling him down onto their bed, and placing his hand on Leonard’s psi-points. They fell asleep, with Leonard wrapped in Spock’s arms, and his mind was peaceful for the time being.

            Before he fell into a deep sleep, Spock made a promise to himself. _If I ever find my counterpart who did this to him, I will teach him a thing or two._ He knew that it was astronomically impossible to happen, and that it would goes against logic. If he were to find himself in the same universe as his counterpart, he would have to avoid him at all cost. But if he knew the one he was facing did awful things to his Ashayam, he wouldn’t let it slide.

            Leonard clutched his biceps tightly. Spock pulled him close, and fell asleep.


End file.
